TY - GEN
T1 - A novel wideangle ultrasonic sensor utilizing a curved radiator developed for use in an AUV obstacle avoidance system
AU - Nolan, S. P.
AU - Toal, D.
AU - Ewald, H.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - This paper presents work on the development and testing of a wideangle ultrasonic transducer developed for use as a low cost short range obstacle avoidance system (OAS) on an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The transducer design is novel in that it utilizes a commercial focusing-bowl piezo element as a convex curved radiator in order to achieve a wide-angled beam profile. The operating frequency of the piezo sensor has been selected to have a short wavelength in water yielding good range resolution. The dimensions of the experimental transducer are small and power consumption is low. It is proposed to use several sensors together with overlapping detection cones to build a sensing system that can provide useful information about objects in an AUV's environment The principle advantages of such a sensing approach are that it would provide fast detection and location of close range targets and could be implemented with less hardware complexity and signal processing than a typical phased-array sonar approach thus reducing the overall system cost. The sound-pressure distribution, ultrasonic sensitivity, and pulse-echo acoustic performance of the transducer prototype are discussed. Water tank testing carried out to evaluate the acoustic response of the prototype in detecting various dimensioned reflectors in the laboratory is reported.
AB - This paper presents work on the development and testing of a wideangle ultrasonic transducer developed for use as a low cost short range obstacle avoidance system (OAS) on an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The transducer design is novel in that it utilizes a commercial focusing-bowl piezo element as a convex curved radiator in order to achieve a wide-angled beam profile. The operating frequency of the piezo sensor has been selected to have a short wavelength in water yielding good range resolution. The dimensions of the experimental transducer are small and power consumption is low. It is proposed to use several sensors together with overlapping detection cones to build a sensing system that can provide useful information about objects in an AUV's environment The principle advantages of such a sensing approach are that it would provide fast detection and location of close range targets and could be implemented with less hardware complexity and signal processing than a typical phased-array sonar approach thus reducing the overall system cost. The sound-pressure distribution, ultrasonic sensitivity, and pulse-echo acoustic performance of the transducer prototype are discussed. Water tank testing carried out to evaluate the acoustic response of the prototype in detecting various dimensioned reflectors in the laboratory is reported.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33746929143&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/OCEANSE.2005.1513212
DO - 10.1109/OCEANSE.2005.1513212
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:33746929143
SN - 0780391039
SN - 9780780391031
T3 - Oceans 2005 - Europe
SP - 1101
EP - 1106
BT - Oceans 2005 - Europe
T2 - Oceans 2005 - Europe
Y2 - 20 June 2005 through 23 June 2005
ER -